What's Been Happening

Wow, its been over a month since I last wrote my post.  I think this is the longest lap yet!

I am five weeks away from getting my Master's Degree.  This means that I am in the middle of finishing up my portfolio and the presentation of my Action Research project.  Both of these things take a loooong time.  I will be ecstatic when I am all finished.  Of coarse, during the busiest time of the year for me I decided to take on....ready for this...baking and menu planning!  Vera, you probably just fell out of your chair.  Vera and my other close friends know that me and baking have a history of disappointments, wasted ingredients,  forced compliments, and plenty of discouragement.   I got tired of eating (not to mention paying for!)  store bought sweets and have been baking several times a week the last several months.   I love the taste of freshly baked goodies and don't think I'll ever go back to store bought cookies and such.

This weekend, while my husband was gone for an out of state trip, I menu planned for the first time.  I feel that all these years of schooling, baby-rearing, and working have deprived me of being intentional about how my family eats.  I mean, we stay away from partially hydrogenated stuff, artificial flavors, sodium nitrites, high fructose syrup and avoid junk food, but I can do better about making sure they eat more raw fruits and vegetables and other wholesome foods.  I hope that menu planning will not only increase my cooking repertoire, but it will take the ever so daunting question of what to make for dinner out of my lexicon.

Another thing I've been busy with is hosting tea/dinners/prayers at our house.   Mom has not been well at all.  This time, cancer came back in a much more aggressive form.  So we have been getting together once a week to pray for her.  We will soon go onto month four of praying and the prayers have largely taken place at our home since we are the biggest house that is located closest to her home.  It is heartbreaking to watch such strong woman decline in health so rapidly.  It was only December that she was helping to watch a six month old and now she can barely walk and spends most of her day in bed.  Wow.

I have recently realized that through mom's sickness I have developed more respect for some family members and am loosing respect for others.   The difference between talk and deed, sympathy and empathy, caring and saying you care, committing and wanting to, what's right and what's fair is so so great.  The person I have always respected but have grown even more respect for is my father in law.  I would like to write a post about him in the near future as I do not want to forget that which I've observed and came to know about him these past few months.

Both him and mom have served as such great role models for me in their own different ways.  I only wish I had the guts and wisdom to tell it to them in a way that wouldn't be forced or awkward.